Ashley Giles made sure England's day finished much better than it started as the three-Test series against Sri Lanka got under way on the south coast.

Left-arm spinner Giles claimed three wickets across two separate spells to raise the spirits of the tourists after early morning frustration was followed by the kind of downpour that has blighted this tour.

After a fruitless first session in the field for England, he broke through in only his second over, half-an-hour after lunch, when Sanath Jayasuriya prodded to short-leg where debutant Paul Collingwood took the catch.

And after a two-hour stoppage for the habitual afternoon rain, he snared Mahela Jayawardene, from the fort end, immediately after the batsman appeared to complain about a hot air balloon behind the sightscreen - this time Collingwood held on at silly mid-off from a thick inside-edge.

When home captain Hashan Tillekeratne slashed at a wide ball to edge behind, Sri Lanka released the initiative after a 76-run stand for the first wicket, closing when bad light forced the players off on 138 for four.

In between Giles' first and second successes, Andrew Flintoff dismissed Marvan Atapattu, who gloved a short ball down the leg-side to wicketkeeper Chris Read.

The tourists began play rocked by the late withdrawal of Nasser Hussain, who pulled out of the match complaining of flu-like symptoms and aching joints an hour before the 11am delayed start.

That ended a run of 40 consecutive away Test appearances for the former captain, stretching back to his international recall in 1996, even more remarkable given the number of matches he has missed on home soil.

As well as missing last summer's final Test win over South Africa at the Oval with a broken bone in his foot, the 35-year-old was ruled out of three Tests in the summer of 2001 and one in the previous season due to fractured fingers and thumbs.

Hussain arrived at the ground feeling ill and did not take his place in the official team photograph for the series as a local doctor diagnosed a virus, so Collingwood stepped in.

Then to make matters worse, Tillekeratne won the toss at a ground which has been as imposing to opponents as the 16th century Dutch fortress which provides the backdrop.

Sri Lanka have won six and lost only one of their eight matches here since the ground's debut as a Test venue in 1998, including the innings win over Hussain's tourists three winters ago when Atapattu struck a double hundred.

After wet patches on the outfield prevented play starting on time, Atapattu might have fallen to the second delivery of the morning when he inside-edged Matthew Hoggard back towards the stumps and the ball wedged itself into the flap of his pad.

But he appeared to set himself for another significant contribution and even the usually adventurous Jayasuriya was subdued as they shared only 46 runs in 21 overs before lunch.

Jayasuriya opened his shoulders after lunch to cut and flick four boundaries following a but England were allowed into the contest when he and Atapattu fell in quick succession.

All-rounder Flintoff almost claimed reward when Atapattu, on 16, was lured forward by a slower ball which he scooped back just short of the diving bowler, who took it on the half-volley in his follow-through.

Flintoff bent his back to extract some bounce out of a slow surface, impressing in his initial five-over burst and gaining success with his third ball of his second deep into the final session.

Each of the three seamers varied their pace effectively as Darren Gough and Craig White did with success here in 2001.

But the Galle surface encourages the spinners - Sri Lanka named three specialists for this contest as well as slow-bowling all-rounders Jayasuriya and Thilan Samaraweera - and Giles took advantage with his spell of two for one in the final session.